Retired lieutenant tops list of Exeter's big pension payouts

EXETER — A former Exeter Fire Department lieutenant collected the highest pension among town retirees in 2010.

Aaron Sanborn

EXETER — A former Exeter Fire Department lieutenant collected the highest pension among town retirees in 2010.

Glenn Stewart collected a pension of $75,103.08. Stewart retired in 2009 after 29 years of service to the Fire Department.

Seacoast Media Group, Exeter News-Letter's parent company, requested the pension information through a June 2010 Right to Know request, but it was just released following a Supreme Court decision that deemed the data a matter of public record.

Pensions paid to the town retired police officers, firefighters and teachers ranged from Stewart's $75,103.08 to as low as $56.46, collected by a former Exeter Region Cooperative School District employee.

Former school district employees dominate the rest of the top 10 in Exeter pension earners.

The next highest pension earner was former Exeter High School Principal Michael Latvis at $54,772.92, followed by former Main Street Elementary School Principal Paul Ford at $54,003.72 and former Exeter High School Assistant Principal Walter Garland at $51,267.04.

Garland retired in 2009, shortly after being named in two civil lawsuits by two former students that alleged Garland sexually molested them when they were students in the Winnisquam Regional School District, where Garland was a biology teacher.

The next highest town pension earner is former Exeter Police Sgt. James O'Neil at $47,422.44.

The average pension earned by town employees in 2010, was $30,787.72, while the average pension for a school/SAU 16 employee in Exeter was $20,197.78.

Other notable former Exeter employees on the list include longtime Exeter Town Manager George Olson and former Public Works Director Keith Noyes.

Olson retired in 2005 and collected a pension of $37,454.64. Noyes served in his position for 20 years until 2007 when he and the town came to a mutual agreement to end his employment.

Noyes collected a pension of $28,874.02 in 2010 and in 2011 was hired by the town of Hampton to serve as their public works director. According to the New Hampshire Retirement System, Noyes is no longer collecting a pension.

In Stratham, former Police Chief Michael Daley was the top pension earner in 2010, collecting $61,101.90.

Daley retired in June 2009, while on paid leave following his arrest in North Hampton for a charge of driving while intoxicated. Prosecutors later dropped the charge because they felt evidence would not support a guilty finding, as he was found in a parked car with the keys in the ignition.

In Newmarket, the top pension earner in 2010 was former School Superintendent Kathleen Murphy, who resigned in 2007 to take a job with the state Department of Education. Murphy collected a pension of $73,926.78 in 2010. She is also earning a salary as the new superintendent of SAU 90 in Hampton.

Also earning a pension in 2012 was former Newmarket Town Manager Al Dixon. Dixon retired from his position in 2007 under a cloud of controversy stemming from a forensic audit of fiscal year 2006 alleging misuse of town funds.

Among the allegations was that public money was used for personal purchases, including a full body makeover for Dixon's girlfriend, the town's former finance director Melodie Hodgdon.

Dixon collected a pension of $18,551.40 in 2010.

Top pension earners for 2010 in other communities include former teacher Anne Atkins in East Kingston, $23,789.76; former teacher Susan Hodgen in Kensington, $41,014.20; former school nurse in Newfields Cynthia Kubit, $16,227.78; former teacher in Epping James McEvoy, $36,838.56 and former school counselor in Brentwood Barbara Bettcher.

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